Ashes to Ashes
by greenconverses
Summary: Teyla can and will save him. She will save them all. Post-Kindred Part 1 and 2 episode tag. Teyla/Kanaan.


**Author's notes:** This story was written before _Kindred Part 2_ aired so if a few things are off, that's why. That being said, I still think it fits well enough with what happened in that episode.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Stargate Atlantis_.

**Ashes to Ashes**

He was skulking on the other side of the cell chamber, watching her with his blank eyes. His blue skin made him look dead, like a fish laid out in the sun too long, and his body was hunched and old. He did not look as fierce as Michael had portrayed him to be, but looks were always deceiving in this galaxy.

Teyla stood and approached the entrance of her cage, clutching the slimy bars in her hands. Her hunger and the ache of her back were making her weak, but the determination in her heart would keep her strong. She can reach him. She can and she _will_ find him.

"Kanaan," she said clearly, fixing her eyes on him. "Come here."

He obeyed her without question, shuffling toward her with stiff limbs. Teyla's heart ached at the sight of him. Gone was his strength and steady stride, his pride and burning intelligence. He was a monstrous thing to behold, all of him wiped away and replaced with a mindless drone.

She'd rather be forced to watch him burn alive again than see him like this for another moment.

She will save him. She will save them all.

"Kanaan, you must listen to me," she said, staring into his blank face. "You can fight him. Do not let him abuse our people anymore! Be strong and fight for Athos!"

He blinked, the Athosian battle cry having no effect on him otherwise. He stared at her and then made a motion to return to his place.

"Stay," Teyla hissed, lacing her tone with Wraith power. Kanaan turned to her. "You will _fight_ Kanaan of Athos. For our galaxy, our people, and our child – "

The mention of the child broke her hold on him and he responded, as if he had been programmed to, "The child will serve the cause."

His voice was raspy and unfamiliar. Like the rest of him, his true voice – full of warmth, texture and life – has faded away.

She would get through to him. She must.

She reached through the bars and grabbed his hand – cold and clammy – and placed it on her rounded stomach. The child, as if sensing the touch of his long-lost father, kicked in excitement.

There was no slow-spreading, unbelieving smile as there had been on John's face when he first felt the child move. Kanaan's face remained as smooth as stone.

"Kanaan," she pleaded desperately, her voice breaking. "Please – "

"The child will – "

"_Stop saying that_!" Teyla commanded, dropping her voice an octave and dripping with Wraith power. Her last encounter with the Queen had doubled her skills and with her child, she was strong.

Kanaan paused mid-sentence, his mouth hanging open stupidly. It hit Teyla then, what she would have to do to return her lover to her. She had vowed never to go into a mind of another with her child still within, but she had no other choice.

Teyla prayed for strength and forgiveness from her child, and plunged into Kanaan's mind.

* * *

The landscape of Kanaan's thoughts was vastly different from the Wraith minds she had encountered. While they had been vibrant with color and memories and terrifying in their intensity, this place was mist-filled and grey. It was the bits and pieces of a long-shattered man.

His mind was directionless and cold, disorientating her. She called out for him and received only the faintest echo of her own voice in return. There was nothing to lead her, no one to show her the way in this vastness. She sobbed out loud, the futile nature of her task overwhelming her. She would not succeed –

"Do not give up," a soft voice said.

A small boy suddenly stood at her side, not more than five years and dressed in traditional Athosian wear. He was older and stronger than the last time she had done this. He had curly dark hair, his father's mouth, and bright brown eyes filled with his mother's fire. He reached out a hand and grasped hers firmly.

"We will find him together," her son said and walked forward, leading her through the mist.

They walked for ages and ages, never changing course. Teyla did not question her son's judgment and followed him blindly, as he had done when they had taken on the Wraith Queen. He had not left her alone then and he would not do so now.

The scenery slowly began to change as they walked on, earth springing beneath her feet and the occasional plant brushing her ankles. The sky turned blue and sunlight was streaming through the tree branches. They were in a wood, the same peaceful wood that had been in her dreams. Kanaan had always run to the wilderness when he was troubled. They had found him.

"Kanaan!" she called, her voice reaching to the tops of the trees.

Teyla waited, clasping her son's hand tightly. He would be here. They both knew it.

Soon, a branch snapped behind her and she turned, her heart pounding painfully against her breast. He appeared from within the trees, blinking at the sunlight.

"Teyla…?" he asked in wonder, staring at her like she was a ghost.

She let out a cry and rushed to him, unhindered by her condition in this place. She threw her arms around him and – and _this_ is the man she knows and loves, warm and solid against her. His scent is unchanged as is the touch of his hands at her waist. She kissed him, whimpering at the familiar feel of his lips against hers after so long.

"Teyla," Kanaan whispered again when she pulled away. Tears began to drip from his eyes, down his nose. "This – this is real? You came to me, truly?"

"Truly," she said, grasping his worn hands in hers. "We are here to free you. To help you fight."

"We?"

Teyla moved aside, and Kanaan sucked in a breath at the sight of the boy hovering just behind her – clutching at her apron strings, as the Earthlings would say. His face took on a mixture of emotions – shock, wonder, love – and it was the reaction she had hoped for.

"Ours?"

Teyla nodded, unable to keep the smile from her lips and her happiness restrained. Kanaan laughed in disbelief, reaching out and touching the boy's head. They were a family at last, as they always should have been.

"If we are to free him, we must go now, mother," the boy said urgently, not sharing in the delight of his parents. He has be on guard since Kanaan appeared, watching her mother's back. "I can sense – "

What the child was sensing was made apparent only moments later. Teyla felt it just as a cold hand grabbed her by the shoulder and wrenched her around, out of Kanaan's arms. Michael stared down at her, terrifying and furious.

"_GET_," he snarled, the ferocity and power of his voice shaking the wood. "_OUT OF HIS HEAD!_"

* * *

The force of Michael's command threw her out of Kanaan's mind, and she collapsed to the floor of her cell, gasping in shock. The child stirred violently within her, disturbed by the expulsion. She placed a calming hand on her stomach, wishing that such a simple touch would sooth her fluttering heart and heaving chest.

"Kanaan – " she gasped, looking up to the dark shadows the lingered in her cell doorway.

" – exists no longer, thanks to your interference," Michael said coldly. "To be truthful, I had been waiting for an excuse to fully terminate him for a very long time. It makes the process easier when there are no remnants of the humans remaining."

A sob escaped her lips before she could stop it, and she brought up a hand to stifle the rest. He could not be gone, not when she had been so close to saving him, when they had been reunited at last –

"You brought this onto your people, Teyla," Michael continued indifferent to her grief. "When your child is born, you too will undergo the treatment and take your place as their leader once again. You will forget your humanity soon enough."

Teyla did not respond to him, overcome by her despair for Kanaan's soul. Her child kicked again, unsettled by the tension coiling within her, but she did not soothe him this time.

He watched her for a moment longer and then turned, his coat billowing after him. Kanaan lingered by her door, the terrible, blank expression on his face forever now, and crept back to his place in the corner.


End file.
